Two Hutterite kids killed in flat deck trailer rollover

By Tim Kalinowski
Southern Alberta Newspapers – Lethbridge

Two children from a Hutterite colony are dead following a farm tractor rollover Sunday evening near the Chin Reservoir.

According to the Taber/ Vauxhall RCMP, a tractor pulling a flat deck trailer with occupants lost control coming down a hill and rolled causing the trailer to roll on the individuals riding on it. Eight individuals were involved in the accident. Two male youth, ages nine and 11, were found deceased at the scene, two youth were taken to the Taber hospital to be treated for minor injuries and another individual was taken by STARS to the Foothills Hospital in Calgary in serious condition.

The other three individuals were not hurt in the rollover.

“It was a farm tractor pulling a trailer,” explained Const. Corinne Oliver of the Taber/Vauxhall RCMP. “From what we understand it was a group of individuals that were going down to go swimming at the Chin Reservoir.”

Oliver said there was no word on the condition of the victim, the 18-year-old driver of the tractor, taken to Calgary when she spoke to The Herald Tuesday afternoon, and there was no word on what charges may be laid.

Pastor Paul Waldner with the Oaklane colony near Taber identified the boys as two of his relatives – Adam Waldner, 11, and nine-year-old Noah Waldner.

He said children in the community go swimming at the nearby reservoir twice a week and regularly ride on the trailer as it’s pulled by the tractor.

“We always use the tractor and the trailer. Always,” Waldner said.“They go picking rocks with it, go gardening with it, do fencing with it. That’s how we live on a farm.”

The accident occurred just north of the Chin Reservoir at the bottom of a steep embankment near a sharp curve on Range Road 17-2 south of Township Road 8-2. A collision analyst was called out to the scene and the investigation is ongoing.

Taber/ Vauxhall RCMP responded to the incident at about 8:30 p.m., alongside the M.D. of Taber Fire Department, the M.D. of Taber Community Peace Officers and local EMS.

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